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Diseases are a very traumatic part of human life. They create great sadness amongst families and friends and can literally tear lives apart. Watching someone suffer from a disease is about as painful as it gets, especially when it is someone that you care about. Unfortunately, science cannot keep up with a lot of these diseases and although there have been amazing advances, it seems that new things always cause new diseases. When new and rare diseases pop up, it can be very frustrating because there is just no precedent on how to treat it. For skin conditions, it can cause a lot of grief because of how visible everything is every day.

Sara Geurts is a 26-year-old Instagram model with a rare skin condition called Dermatosparaxis Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). EDS makes it difficult for your body to produce collagen, reports Bored Panda, which is what keeps our skin looking firm in our youth. Geurts had premature wrinkles, and began to look much older than the date on her birth certificate would suggest. For a long time, she was insecure about it, but she has since embraced her own unique looks in a celebratory way that will inspire you:

In a video with Barcroft TV, Geurts explains how she made the transition from feeling self-conscious about her skin to loving it:

“My skin was my biggest insecurity. But now I think it’s the most beautiful thing ever. Each imperfection you have is individual to you, and it tells a story about you and who you are, and the struggle and the journey that you have been on.”

Guerts writes in her Instagram bio that she's a "body activist," and regularly posts images to Instagram that show her celebration of her skin and life, while spreading awareness of EDS, and she looks fabulous: